May 15

Push through resistance

It’s not particularly useful to examine why you experience resistance. The key is to break through that resistance and to get your work done.

You feel guilty, reluctant, ashamed, bored, fearful, frustrated, indecisive, and so much more. But those are just feelings, and they can influence your actions only to the extent you let them.

Do you really want to feel better? Then choose to focus more on what you can do, and less on what you feel.

Your feelings are real, they matter. And you can significantly improve your feelings by putting them aside and working in the direction of achievement.

Push through the initial barrier of your resistance. Then keep going, step by step, getting good things done.

Even when you don’t feel like doing it, you can take action. Even when your internal resistance is strong, your desire, your will, your intention can be stronger.

— Ralph Marston

May 16

No magic bullet

There is no magic bullet, no blanket immunity that can protect you from every one of life’s difficulties. But there is strength, along with fortitude, persistence, resourcefulness, diligence, innovation and more.

You cannot wall yourself off from the troubles. What you can do is equip yourself to successfully deal with them.

What you can do is nurture deep and lasting relationships built on trust, respect, and integrity. You can gain experience at adapting to new, different, and changing situations.

You can set aside any tendency toward arrogance and do the work to build genuine confidence. You can let go of any sense of entitlement and put forth time and effort to become more competent and effective.

You can savor the beauty, the joy, the moments when circumstances work in your favor. You can appreciate, value, and learn from all the good work of all the real people who came before you.

None of this is particularly easy, and that’s what makes it so powerful. There’s nothing you can do to avoid every problem and pain, yet there’s everything you can do to live with purpose, richness, and fulfillment.

— Ralph Marston

May 17

Positively influence the future

Make the choices today that will make you thankful tomorrow. Act in this moment in a way you’ll look back to with gratitude.

Are there choices in your past that you regret? Don’t burden yourself with any new regrets.

You have the opportunity right now to influence the quality of your life going forward. Make good use of that opportunity.

Today will soon end, yet its consequences can continue for months or years. Do all you can so those consequences will be more helpful than harmful.

No one can accurately predict the future. Yet anyone on any day has the very real ability to positively influence the future.

So go ahead and imagine yourself looking back on right now. And do what your future self would most want you to do.

— Ralph Marston

May 18

Excellent choices

Insist on honesty from yourself, with yourself and others. Insist on doing what must be done.

Insist on honoring your commitments. Insist on getting your work completed in a timely manner.

Insist that you focus on what’s meaningful and beneficial. Insist on being open to new ideas, tolerant and respectful of others.

Insist from yourself that you approach each interaction with kindness and genuine care. Insist on finding the positive possibilities in every situation.

You are worthy and capable of living with the highest of standards. Hold yourself to those standards.

An excellent life is composed of excellent choices. From yourself, insist on nothing less.

— Ralph Marston

May 19

Plain old ordinary work

Life’s dramas are interesting, invigorating, instructive, and often consequential. But a good life is about more than drama.

The mundane, tedious parts of life matter, perhaps even more than the drama. Because it is in those circumstances that much of life’s important work gets done.

Keeping an electric generation plant maintained and running is not particularly dramatic. Yet it makes a major difference in the lives of thousands of people.

Driving a truck that delivers fresh groceries to supermarkets is a somewhat tedious job. Nonetheless, it provides families with reliable, healthy nutrition.

In the ordinary is great value. In the mundane are widespread opportunities to make a positive difference.

Drama can be very entertaining. What sustains life, though, are quiet competence, dependability, and the willingness to do plain old ordinary work.

— Ralph Marston

May 20

A beautiful day

Make a beautiful day by deciding it will be. Make a beautiful day by embracing what is and giving your best to it.

A beautiful day does not require any particular circumstances. Each day is what you make of it, and you can make a beautiful day out of any day you choose.

A beautiful day depends on you, not on what is provided to you. Today has plenty of potential for beauty even though it is not perfect.

A beautiful day is more than you can imagine beforehand that it will be. A beautiful day largely comes from all you allow and enable it to be as it unfolds.

You don’t have to try so hard to live a beautiful day. You don’t have to be shackled by the fear of what might or might not happen.

Just be beautiful in your very own way. And live yourself a beautiful day.

— Ralph Marston

May 21

Live right now

You’re here now. Think like it, act like it.

There are upcoming events and obligations you know about, and other upcoming twists and turns that will surprise you. As compelling as all that may be, none of it is here yet.

What is here, and what is now, is your life in this moment and your opportunity to live it well. Apply your focus, your thoughts, and your considerable skills to what’s going on right now.

It’s useful to anticipate the future, to plan and prepare for it. Just be careful not to be obsessed or overwhelmed by it.

There’s much you can live and do and see and experience right now. While right now is here, give those things your top priority.

Take a breath, look around, and recognize the powerful time and place you’re already in. Then step forward, focused and aware of this moment’s great possibilities, and live right now.

— Ralph Marston

May 22

Achieve gradually

There are a few objectives you can achieve quickly. There are many more objectives you can achieve gradually.

You cannot learn a new language or other complex skill in a few days. Yet over a year or two with consistent, gradual effort, you can make massive progress.

Are there specific meaningful goals that elude you in the moment? Imagine going to work on one of them gradually.

Make time work in your favor by making use of it as it comes. Give yourself a way to carry value forward from each day you go through.

Set out to achieve gradually, and every morning when you wake up you already have a clear purpose. Do the work to achieve gradually, and enable yourself to look back with satisfaction at how far you’ve come.

Countless possibilities are open to you when you give them enough time. Achieve gradually, and discover how very much you can do.

— Ralph Marston

May 23

Learning ambition

You have more potential than you think. You’re capable of more than you realize.

How do you expand your understanding of what you can do? You give yourself an ambitious challenge.

What would you like to do, or be, to have, or experience, that you never thought you could do? You’ll never know for sure unless you give it a shot.

Once you’ve made the commitment and are underway, your assumption is likely to change. Maybe you’ll get all the way there, maybe only part of the way.

Yet it’s almost certain that you’ll make at least some amount of progress. And that’s a whole lot better than doing nothing.

Ambition is a skill you can teach yourself. Go ahead and see how much you can learn.

— Ralph Marston

May 24

Action, not worry

There are plenty of issues to be concerned about in today’s world. And though concern is admirable, concern alone doesn’t accomplish much.

For each topic that worries you, ask yourself something. What exactly can you do about it?

If you’re able to come up with an answer, that’s great. Instead of unproductive worrying, you can apply your energy in a beneficial direction.

If you determine there’s nothing you can do, that’s also a good thing to know. Because you can then direct your time, your thoughts, and your actions into other places where you can make a difference.

You accomplish nothing by fretting over situations that are completely beyond your control. And what’s worse, it can lead you into a spiral of frustration, helplessness, anger and despair.

Instead, identify what you actually can do, and devote yourself to doing it. That’s a whole lot better for your world, and for you as well.

— Ralph Marston

May 25

Nested problems

Many times when you solve one problem the reward is another problem. That’s frustrating, but it’s also a great opportunity.

Because when you’re solving problems you’re creating value. And if one problem points to another, and then to another, that’s a lot of potential value.

Other people might have encountered the same nested problem, and given up in frustration. All that value is waiting for someone who is willing to persist.

By digging through the problems one by one, not only do you unlock a great deal of value. You also improve your skill at addressing many different kinds of issues.

Rather than giving in to frustration, muster some well deserved enthusiasm. You’ve come across a challenge that will compel you to grow stronger, that promises rich rewards.

See a nested problem for the opportunity it is. And be the person to transform that opportunity into treasure.

— Ralph Marston

May 26

Great new experiences

Treasure the good experiences in your past by creating more good experiences in the present. Express gratitude for what you’ve done with your eagerness to do more.

Honor all the good books you’ve read by finding more to read. Pay homage to the beautiful places you’ve visited by discovering new beauty in the present world.

Celebrate the great friendships you’ve known by continuing the ones you can while also being open to new friends. Acknowledge the good work you’ve done by expanding and making further use of your skills.

Remember the lessons you’ve struggled to learn and look for opportunities to put them into practice. Think of what made the good old days so good and bring those values to life in the present day.

It’s good when you can ponder your pleasant memories. What’s even better is to transform that past goodness into present action.

Be inspired by the life you’ve lived so far. And let that inspiration serve as the starting point for great new experiences.

— Ralph Marston

May 27

Motivating yourself

You have five hours to do two hours worth of work. What are your options?

You could spend three and a half hours procrastinating and worrying about how difficult the work will be. That will force you to spend the last ninety minutes rushing and making compromises to produce a substandard result.

You could fill the entire five hours working at a leisurely pace, taking breaks, giving in to distractions, working a little more. That will get the job done, and waste much of your precious time.

Or, you could start right away, focus intently on the work, and persist until you’ve achieved an excellent result. In that case you’ll have three hours for something else, free of worry, free of anxiety, with no deadline hanging over you.

It can be difficult motivating yourself to get started early, and to push all the way through. So instead of thinking just about getting started, think of the entire experience and how you’ll feel at the end.

The time is yours, the choice is yours, the work is there to be done. What approach will you decide to take?

— Ralph Marston

May 28

Good to everyone

Kindness toward others is kindness toward yourself. Patience with others gives rise to more patience with yourself.

There’s nothing particularly selfish about acting in your own self interest. Because in order to truly do so you must also further the interests of others.

Even when you create value solely for yourself, the benefits of your good work extend far beyond you. When you act with love, creativity, and goodness, that goodness cannot be contained.

In the very same way any time you create value for others, you too are a beneficiary. No matter where your good intentions and actions are directed, they reflect back on you.

Your sincere generosity raises the energy level of all life. So do beauty, understanding, appreciation, wisdom, gratitude and more.

Never pass up the opportunity to act with goodness, no matter its direction. Be good to you, and good to everyone else.

— Ralph Marston

May 29

Take yes for an answer

You can become so obsessed with what you desire that the desire takes on a life of its own. Then, when you actually get what you desire, there’s a big empty hole where the desire used to be.

Learn to take yes for an answer. When you get what you want, be prepared to do something meaningful with it.

How do you do that? By focusing less on desire and more on purpose.

When there’s something you want, ask yourself why. Do you desire it just for the sake of having a desire or is there a deeper reason, and an even deeper reason underlying that?

Do you want it just so you can say you have it, or will it serve some purpose that’s meaningful to you? Before you become too invested in any desire, make sure it is worthy of your effort and energy.

Then, when you actually get what you desire, you won’t be left feeling empty. You’ll know exactly what you can do, and why.

— Ralph Marston